Landau pushes solar effort for Gaza evacuees – Jerusalem Post

By SHARON UDASIN
03/07/2012 23:42
Energy and Water Minister sign 23 new licenses for 62 megawatts worth of solar production facilities.

Energy and Water Minister Uzi Landau sent a request to Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Interior Minister Eli Yishai, asking that they declare the future photovoltaic power plant for Gaza evacuee communities a national infrastructure project on Wednesday.

The facility is slated to span 1,000 dunams and have a capacity of about 55 megawatts and will be built by Enlight Renewable Energy Corporation in partnership with other firms, according to the Energy and Water Ministry.

“This pioneering project expresses the realization of the Negev settlement vision, but more than that, it expresses the strength of spirit of a group of people, pioneering residents, who were expelled from Gaza by the Israeli government, who took their destiny in their own hands and decided to continue to adhere to the pioneering path of settling the lands of the country,” Landau said.

Also on Wednesday, Landau signed 23 new licenses for 62 megawatts worth of solar production facilities, bringing the current total of conditional solar licenses to a value of about 542.5 megawatts, the ministry said.